When legendary studio 3D Realms shut down development on Duke Nukem Forever in May of 2009, designer David Riegel saw a way to finish the game with a dedicated skeleton crew. Pitching an aggressive schedule and a solid plan to 3D Realms owners, Triptych Games was formed to resume development on the project in July of 2009. A ragtag team of 3D Realms veterans and top-industry professionals came together at Triptych for a crazy adventure and a grueling 6-month crunch.
Inheriting a game in bits and pieces, the team had their work cut out for them. Building the narrative script, dialog, NPC behavior, music, and a great deal of content from the ground up, the team worked around the clock out of a modest house in Dallas, TX, 6 to 7 days a week for just over 6 months. Work began at 8:30AM, and the last person usually left between 11PM and midnight. There were artists in the kitchen, desks in the master bedroom, hundreds of feet of cat5 cable, and switches taped to the walls. Circuits were so precariously balanced that everyone was limited to one monitor, and once the main breaker was tripped due to a teapot.
With a superb team of top talent, a non-existant budget, and impossible time table, Triptych successfully delivered a content complete PC version of the game to 3DR in January of 2009. Shortly after when rights to the game were transferred, Triptych was contracted by Gearbox Software to continue leading creative development and to assist with console versions of the game. The version we brought to Gearbox in February of 2010 is largely the version that was delivered to retail customers in June 2011.
Since then, Triptych has continued to recruit top talent from around the country and offer services as a development team. Our unique management style and "can-do" attitude enables us to deliver quality on time and on budget, no matter how challenging the circumstances.